Without Light: Sight In Sound

A 3D First Person Horror Survival Game

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A Capstone Project Presented to the Faculty of the

College of Information, Computer and Communications Technology

University of San Jose-Recoletos

Cebu City, Philippines

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In Fulfilment

Of the Requirements for the Degree of

Bachelor of Science in Information Technology

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by

Fernandez, Daniel Kent B.

Javier, Kimberly S.

Pangilinan, Cielo B.

March 2018

ABSTRACT

This bachelor thesis describes a case study, where the team is focusing on developing a

3D first-person survival horror game using a process based upon agile development. The thesis

will cover the implementation of low polygonal graphics, their own echolocation engine,

hardware support for the microphone, and the integration of visuals and sound effects.
 Without Light is an adventure game that uses its main feature called echolocation in

which the player controls the blind character in making sounds to get a glimpse of the

environment by picking up and throwing objects, stomping the floor, and sounds detected

through the microphone that are created by the player. This game aims to develop the player’s

critical thinking skills and strategization for it also features puzzles and enemies whose goal is to

stop the player from proceeding any further. This game can be played on desktop running on

Microsoft Windows with specific system requirements.

In relation to the study, the researchers provide their gaming assets using 3D models of

the game’s asylum which is an interactive building that is set to be the main perspective of the

game and 3D models of the playable and non-playable characters, namely: Ethan, the main and

only controllable character who has the ability to echolocate throughout the game despite being

blind, the Stalker, the Tracker, and the Screamer; three of which are the main enemies in

Ethan’s journey and each of which has their own unique abilities that aid each other’s disabilities

and complicate Ethan’s goal in uncovering the secrets of the asylum. The game is constructed

through Unity for the development of the logic and algorithm, Maya for the creation of the 3D

models, Adobe Audition and Audacity for the background music and sound effects, and Adobe

Photoshop and Adobe Premiere Pro for the designing and animation of the user interface and

cutscenes of the game.

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Rationale of the Study

Games have immersed millions, if not billions of players in their own unique graphics

and gameplays. That idea applied only to large, well-known game developing companies.

Smaller denominations had to acquire a huge amount of funding and investments before even

thinking of having their games rise up to the top. But that’s a thing of the past. Nowadays, the
popularity and tenacity of independent (indie) game developers have skyrocketed and are

continuing to rise even to this day. Through Steam’s game distribution platform, as well as other

game distribution platforms, dreams of indie game developers have come into fruition. Their

countless hours of tireless developing now have channels that would get their crazy and

interesting ideas to the top. And the researchers are aiming to become one of them. They want

to offer the world a new perspective of “visuals” in “game visuals”, a thrilling and suspenseful

gameplay that sets itself apart from thousands of its neighboring horror games, and a game that

aims to emphasize humanity’s ability to adjust and compensate for the lack. In this case, a

game where the sense of sight is replaced with an even greater ability: the ability to visualize

sound.

Similar games such as Perception and Dark Echo have achieved in integrating the core

feature the researchers’ game also has which is the main character’s ability to echolocate. Most

other authors usually weave the topic towards fully educational 3D, or for purely research, which

is one of the reasons why none can actually have the experience of exaggerated echolocation

in a suspense and thrilling environment. Echolocation is normally connected with bats and

toothed whales. To date, just a couple of studies have examined echolocation in people. In

addition, these examinations were led with genuine questions in genuine rooms; a setup in

which components of both vocal emanations and perceptual signs are hard to investigate and

control. They have explored human sonar target-extending in virtual resound acoustic space,

utilizing a short-dormancy, continuous convolution motor. (Schörnich, Nagy and Wiegrebe,

2012)

What makes Without Light unique is the way the game immerses the player into it. In

Without Light, the main character has nothing but his sense of hearing and smell. He can make

use of objects by picking them up and tossing them, as well as using the microphone to produce

sounds. The Stalker, a type of enemy in Without Light also makes use of echolocation to find
and chase the player. The Tracker can see the player, but chases slowly. The Screamer can

see and hear the player, but it cannot move. What makes it scary is that when the player gets

near enough, it starts screaming to attract the other enemies.

The game emphasizes the difficulty and inconvenience of living without the sense of

sight. It also emphasizes the use of all the other senses to compensate for the lack. Thus, the

game aims to demolish the barriers between those with sight and those without through an

suspense-adventure game the researchers call, Without Light.

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Echolocation is the use of sound waves and echoes to determine where objects are in

space. There are two different types, namely: human echolocation and animal echolocation.

Human echolocation is the ability of humans to detect objects in the environment by sensing

echoes from those objects. It is being done by tapping their canes, lightly stomping their foot,

snapping their fingers, or making clicking noises with their mouths. People who are trained

enough can interpret the sound waves reflected by nearby objects, accurately identifying their

location and size. It is similar to active sonar, which uses sound propagation to navigate,

communicate with or detect objects on or under the surface of the water, and animal

echolocation which is employed in bats. This, however, is commonly known as bio sonar, which

is the biological sonar used by several kinds of animals. It is embedded in the anatomical

structures in animals that heavily rely on the echoes that they emit throughout the environment

such as bats, dolphins, and toothed whales. They use these echoes to locate, identify objects,

and hunt in various environments. (Holland, Waters and Rayner, 2004)

they use for navigation which is acoustic wayfinding. This is the practice of using the auditory

system to orient oneself and navigate physical space and it involves using a variety of auditory

cues to create a mental map of the surrounding environment. This comprises a few techniques:

navigating by sounds from the natural environment to determine the location and size of

surrounding objects, and memorizing the unique sounds in a given space to recognize it again

later. These methods allow the visually impaired to retain their mobility without relying on visual

cues from their environment. The outputs they acquire from their means of location become the

primary substitute for visual information about the direction and distance of people and objects

in their environment. (Golledge and Stimson, 1997)

People blind since infancy have at least 10 times sharper hearing than sighted people, a

study of hearing skills shows. People who became visually impaired at later ages don't seem to

have this gift. However, the study showed that the earlier people lose their sight, the sharper

their hearing becomes.

According to Gougoux: "Blind people are better at judging the direction of pitch change

between sounds, even when the speed of change is 10 times faster than that perceived by

[sighted people] -- but only if they became blind at an early age."

Each subject put on headphones and pointed on a keyboard whether two tones were

rising or falling in pitch. The early-blind subjects did as well at the fastest condition as sighted

subjects did at the slowest condition, even though the sounds came 10 times closer together. In

many cases, late-blind subjects did a bit worse than the sighted subjects, although these

differences were not significant. However, the earlier a person became blind, the better that

person did on the tests. It's already known that blind people can orient themselves to a sound

better than sighted people can. The new findings show that when the brain is still young

enough, it can compensate for the lack of sight. (Burlingham, 2017)

have explored echolocation in people. Additionally, these investigations were led with real

objects in real rooms. Human sonar target-ranging was being investigated in virtual echo-

acoustic space. Subjects created tongue clicks, which were picked up by a headset, carefully

recorded, convolved with head-related transfer works and played back through earphones,

reflecting a surface at a particular range before the subject. The psychophysical information

demonstrated that the subjects were well competent to differentiate certain aspects in the scope

of a frontal reflector. Through the blend of very controlled psychophysical tests in virtual space

and a definite examination of both the subjects' execution and their discharged tongue clicks,

the present trials give experiences into both vocal engine and tangible procedures enlisted by

people that plan to investigate their condition by echolocation. (Schörnich et al, 2012)

Bats can navigate in the dark by relying on how the sounds they create can bounce

back. Humans, although not that inherent, are also capable of possessing that ability especially

those who are visually impaired. Daniel Kish, who has been blind since a year after his birth,

has climbed mountains, rode bikes, and lived alone in the wilderness all because of his ability to

see through sound which is called echolocation. According to several investigations about the

said ability, they’ve found that although humans lack the specific anatomical structures for

echolocation which are in species such as bats, the method is most likely similar. A person

makes a noise and observes it bouncing back which is an advantage in navigating throughout

the environment. From there, the sound waves produced by the sound are broadcasted into the

environment at a speed of roughly 1,100 feet per second. You can make any noise in all

directions, and these waves will bounce off objects, structures and people around and arrive

back in his or her ears. (Stromberg, 2013)

Outlast is a 3D first-person survival horror game where the player assumes the role of

investigative journalist Miles Upshur as he examines an abandoned mental facility which

previously held homicidal patients (McElroy, 2013). Unlike most games, the player can’t attack

enemies, and instead hides behind lockers, sneaks past enemies, hides behind crates and

barrels, or hides under beds and tables in order to survive. If the player dies, the game will reset

to the most recent checkpoint (Johnson, 2013). Most of the facility is dark, and the only way for

the player to see in an unlit area is to make use of a camcorder equipped with night vision. This

method will slowly consume the batteries of the gadget, forcing the player to look for extra

batteries within the vicinity. The game makes use of jump scares and audio cues, alerting the

player if an enemy is near. The player can record certain events with the camcorder, having

Miles write notes about it after (McCormick, 2013).

Perception is a 3D first-person adventure game in which the player controls Cassie, a

blind woman who navigates a mansion through echolocation. This allows sounds to catch a

glimpse of the surroundings. Through echolocation, the player must examine the environment to

investigate objects and deduce the game’s story. Cassie also has a cane which she can tap to

provide a complete view of any room. If the player makes too much noise, the game’s

antagonist known as the Presence may kill them, but the Presence can’t be killed directly.

(Skrebels & Kollar, 2017)

Dark Echo is a 2D adventure game that takes place in the darkness, in which you must

use visualized sound to guide yourself through threatening areas. The sounds created will

bounce off obstacles, revealing the shape of the environment. It won’t take long before the

ability attracts an evil being that devours both sound and souls. (RAC7 Games, 2015)
 PROJECT OBJECTIVE

Horror and suspense games are not uncommon nowadays, but the researchers want to

bring an entirely different twist to genre. The idea is to emphasize how a human compensates

for the lack of sight, albeit in an idealized way.

This study aims to build a 3D game environment that puts you in the shoes of a blind

person while inducing fear and suspense by simulating sight through sound in a pitch black

environment.

Specifically, it aims to let the user experience a world where you have to rely on your

auditory and virtual olfactory senses to survive in a perilous world by implementing Unity’s Spot

light projector spawning in a completely different way than what it’s built for, as well as

harnessing the power of Unity’s ParticleSystem to visualize the olfactory senses.

The researchers also want to supplement the excitement of such experience by

implementing a system of puzzles and unlockables that are heavily optimized for quick and easy

deployment by imitating the functions of a database and serializing all the variables that vary

from one puzzle to the other. This way, the researchers can simply drag and drop a prefab with

the script that draws out the functions of the database with properties inherited from the prefab

it’s attached to, and change the variables via the serialized variables thus making the level

setup much easier. Through this, it would be fully functional without the need of further scripting.

Another objective is to deploy scripted enemies that fulfill different roles in inducing fear

to the players which will be a tough feat for the team, but it is achievable by drawing out

encapsulation and inheritance and selecting which traits should be inherited by each enemy,

and how it affects their individual purpose and movements.

SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

navigating would mean visualizing the sound waves “perceived” by the main character and

escape the tarnished asylum as the main environment with lurking enemies spread everywhere.

There are two modes featured in this game. The default mode is the sound mode, where

navigation will be heavily dependent on sound and the visualization that comes with it and the

smell mode where visible colored odor trails can be seen through the environment. These trails

can be used to navigate through the world. Both modes can be used at the same time during

gameplay, but when in smell mode the focus is switched to the sense of smell, thus lessening

the attenuation towards sound.

Three floors with different objectives and quests will be available to the player. Akin to

that, there would also be three different types of enemies: The Stalker, the Tracker, and the

Screamer. The Stalker is unable to see and follows the closest object that’s creating sound and

has high speed; they would slowly learn to get the coordinates of the player by being near the

Tracker. The Tracker has the ability to see the player, but is compensated by the slow speed it

has; more difficult versions would have the ability to inform the stalker of the player’s location.

The Screamer is stationary, but it starts screaming horribly when the player is close to attract

the other enemies.

The game controls will be limited to keyboard, mouse and through microphone input if

applicable to player. Playing the game in a quiet environment is recommended as the

microphone can take in external noises, and might play a role in getting you caught. The game

can only be played on windows.